INFECTIOUS DISEASES 



271 



The average annual loss in the United States for the past four decades 

 probably exceeds $30,000,000 annually, and in 1897 the losses due 

 to this disease alone approximated $100,000,000. During the years 

 1912-13, a severe epizootic of hog cholera extended throughout the 

 principal hog-raising section of the United States, the loss ■ being 

 excessive and for the country at large amounting to over $100,000,000 

 each year. In 1913 there were 61,178,000 swine in the United States, 

 of which ten to fifteen per cent died of cholera. The losses from 



Fig. 67. Hog cholera (Early Stage). 



hog cholera in 1912 in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri ex- 

 ceeded 3,000,000 hogs valued at $30,000,000. The losses in Iowa 

 alone for the years 1911-14 exceeded $10,000,000 annually. 



The mortality from hog cholera in the United States in 1914 was 

 approximately ten per cent, but was reduced to less than four per 

 cent in 1919 by the combined efforts of the Bureau of Animal In- 

 dustry, various state live stock sanitary officials and veterinary prac- 

 titioners. 



Hog cholera is no doubt the most surely fatal disease of swine in 



